The Red Wings’ playoff chances are all but officially gone 

It’s been a slow, painful collapse for the Detroit Red Wings, who just a few months ago were in the running for the No. 1 seed in the Eastern Conference.

Now, it looks far more likely than not that the longest playoff drought in the NHL will extend, an unfortunate distinction now held by Detroit after the Buffalo Sabres clinched their playoff spot this season.

On Tuesday, the Red Wings let in a tying goal against Columbus in the dying seconds before going on to lose in the shootout. Losing that point, and the extra one, to one of the other wild card contenders was a big blow.

It came on the heels of Patrick Kane’s penalty that cost the Wings at least a point in their game on Sunday against Minnesota.

On Wednesday’s episode of Daily Faceoff LIVE, host Tyler Yaremchuk and co-host and former NHL goaltender Carter Hutton discussed why another late backbreaking defeat likely spells the end of a once-promising bid for Detroit to snap its playoff drought.

Tyler Yaremchuk: It’s the second time this week, Hutts. We’re talking about the Detroit Red Wings just, quite frankly, blowing it late. Like we we talked about the Kane penalty earlier in the week, and I know it’s tough to isolate… but again that directly led to the power play goal that lost them the game, and then last night they’re winning. There’s a face-off with 20 seconds left in their own zone. They lose the draw, bang bang, four seconds later Adam Fantilli fires it home. Zach Werenski ends it in a shootout, and now you sit here and you look at a Detroit team, like they’re done, right? Stick a fork in them. I know they’re only three points back, but there’s four games left like we’re talking about if Columbus goes 3-1, Detroit can’t catch them really. If Ottawa goes 3-1, Detroit can’t catch them. If Columbus goes 4-0, they control their own fate now, like losing that extra point is probably pretty much the nail in the coffin here for Detroit.

Carter Hutton: You look at this team and how the wheels have fallen off. It’s been a tough take – I think John Gibson has played well, but they’ve ridden him so hard down the stretch. It’s gonna be really hard to figure this out in the last four games. I think last night was a little bit of the nail in the coffin I think Zach Werenski was so good in that game going to the shootout. Jet Greaves was solid, and you could feel the sense of relief, I think when you watched on the Columbus faces when Zach Werenski scored that goal. But Columbus has a tough, tough road here. They have Buffalo, Montreal and Boston… But for me, I think the Wings are done, right? I think they’ve been done for a few weeks now.

You can watch the full segment and the rest of the episode here…